My Book Reviews

ISBN:  978-0-300-12223-7 Verdict :  👍👍 The book, quite rightly so, starts with a nice definition found on page 6 of what is to follow i.e. " A nudge, as we will use the term, is any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behaviour in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives . " It is an enjoyable read and does not disappoint, it takes a basic concept from parts of human behavioural  science  and expands with some good examples of “Choice Architecture” to reinforce the concepts. My one  criticism  is that it is written with an American, as all case studies and examples are US centric and, in some cases, not relevant to a British reader, hence my 2 thumbs - but still a good read.  Here are my favourite snippets from the book;         “If an option is designated as a “default”, it will attract a large market share. Default options thus act as powerful nudges .”      p35         “Small interventions an

ISBN:  978-0-00-842109-0 Verdict :  👍👍 👍 👍 I really enjoyed this book from Mark Carney, a former G7 central banker, governor of the Bank of Canada and more recently the Bank of England, so he brings a wealth of financial experience and insights into this book. This book address  values and the value  using past economic crisis, cryptocurrencies, covid and the net zero goals / initiatives and brings some advice with a very much financial lens.   The book does make one and reflect on things e.g.  the value of Amazon (the company) in relation to the Amazon Region where Amazon has a $1.5 trillion equity valuation, whilst the Amazon Region does not appear on any ledger yet the costs to both climate and biodiversity of destroying the rainforest has greater value to the planet – Makes you think! This example and others set the tone. Here are some of favourite bits – however unless you read the book the context is lost but worthy of mention. 1.        “ In matters of money, there is no roo

  ISBN: 978-1-292360836   Disclaimer:   I must  highlight  bias on my part, as the author is someone I know personally, and I am quoted ( p64-65) as an independent voice. Hence I have awarded no thumbs  But would  recommend reading. I consider myself a seasoned freelance consultant, one who has worked independently for near three decades, after reading this book I am pleased to say I derived value and re-evaluated some of our practices regarding selling professional services.   Whilst the book is targeted at those considering freelancing or in the early stages of their journey it is equally of value to those, who like me, have worked independently for several years serving as a prompt to reinforce best practices.   The book is organised, in four parts, providing some great context from the basics, the design , the selling and the developing of your service offering and even goes into the management of payments and along the journey you are presented with the authors vast experiences

ISBN:  978-0-241-44529-7 Verdict :  👍👍 I bought this book primarily because the author is a British Asian ( like myself ) and I like to support where I can. The book did not disappoint, it was well written, had several  interesting  facts which I was not aware of resulting in  added value to my knowledge base.  My only criticism is that a few more pages wouldn’t have gone a miss , could have read some more. However, at 216 pages I consider it as good value for the  golden nuggets found within the book.   I would probably disagree with the author on some of his stereotypical points e.g.  “ Sikhs did relatively well out of empire ”  (p18) – not all, Jallianwala Bagh ?  “Private   numberplate  on BMWs   “ (p23), " Front gardens paved over to make space for Audis ” p 23 - hmmm maybe in Wolverhampton !   “ you can’t apply modern ethics to the past ”  (p40) yet we do with Nazi Germany?   “ the kindest thing I can bring myself to say about Brighton on this bitterly cold February After

  ISBN:  978-0-547-391407 Verdict :👍👍 👍 What a great way to start the new year , finishing this great read which gave me great pleasure with its little antidotes wrapped around brief stories, explaining how we as humans create stories to connect, justify and ‘ how authors trick readers into doing most of the imaginative work ’.   Some amazing nuggets ( Sherlock Holmes, Hitler etc) within this book that make one ponder on actions of others that creep into our lives spinning yarns of lies through our journeys- here are a few; You’ll recall a few key characters and the basic gist: sadly, almost all of the granular detail will be lost in an amnesiac fog       ( p64 ) Everyone poops, but this is not the point of eating. Defecation is a side effect of our need to eat. In the same way-according to Flanigan and many other researchers – a dream is just brain waste        ( p73 )  In short, the storytelling mind is a factory that churns out true stories, when it can, but will manufacture lies